Skip the INTRO, Go RIGHT to the Archive!The China National Light Industrial Products Import and Export Corporation, Shanghai Stationary and Educational Supplies Branch manufactured slide rules in mainland China under its brand name, Flying Fish. The main factory and head office was at 128 Huchiu Road, Shanghai.
These rules sometimes appear to have borrowed style and scale features from western makers, especially K+E, and all known examples so far have plastic bodies. The slanted scale digits for some scales are especially reminiscent of K+E. Interestingly, rule bodies were oversize, and almost always had over-length log log scales, often a full inch longer than the rest of the rule scales, to provide more readable dynamic range. Both 2 part plastic cases (later style), and 2 part fabric covered hardboard cases (earlier style) were used. No leather cases or circular rules have been found so far, but pocket rules had interesting padded plastic cases (no clips) to protect the rules. All rules have engraved scales which are filled in black or red, and the pigments are not especially waterfast, especially the red, so care must be used in cleaning. General quality of assembly and finish can vary considerably from rule to rule, and new rules came bagged with a very impressive inspection slip sealed inside, but often with the model number hand marked in grease pencil on the box's exterior. Multi-line cursors were common, and all body styles seem to have used a glued plastic end brace design, and are non-adjustable (although the large duplex rules have adjustable cursors). Model numbers generally appear at the end of the slide on large rules, and in various other places on pocket rules. Flying Fish manuals are quite unique, and are long, skinny booklets (some early ones in Chinese only, later in both Chinese and English) that fit along with the rules inside the cases.
Typical Manual, CLICK for bigger PIC!
The exact dates of operation are not known, but from the plastic construction, production appears to have started post WW2, and the factory is known to still exist, although all attempts to find out about current stock or production capability have been unsuccessful so far. Rules were quite complex and specialized, and purpose specific rules for virtually every major discipline existed, from air conditioning and aerospace to chemical engineering. Rules were mainly for domestic Chinese consumption, but were exported to other Asian countries, including at least Singapore and the surrounding countries.